Long time no update?!?!
Well, I was here the whole time. Most of the fall was spent painting Arthurians and Saxons for the historical skirmish game Dux Britanniarum. I will not bore you with the pictures and details of those adventures, for you can read about them on my
blog. Though if folks are interested in that sorta non-empirey thing, I will post the pictures here as well. Just ask.
Now, back on topic, I recently stumbled upon a wonderful resource for building terrain - specifically Mordheim, ruined terrain. You can check it out here:
http://www.ironhands.com/mordheim.htm - I would suggest adding it as a bookmark. Now, what caught my eye was how the author used porcelain Christmas buildings in his Mordheim stuff -
link. Tis being the season of such ornaments, I thought it was a splendid idea and proceeded to scour the online classifieds for a good source of gently used porcelain buildings. After a successful search, I returned home with three suitable targets. Here is the first test piece:
I think the witch hunter fits in wonderfully with the serene, winter wonderland portrayed by this cozy little dwelling, don't you? Also, I think the scale works beautifully.
After admiring the piece, I assembled a few of my more delicate instruments:
Donning the glasses (safety first, folks!) I went to town trying to make a convincing ruin. The porcelain is quite tricky to work with, as it is quite hard and tends to break in large pieces. I managed to end up with this piece here:
I think its a good start. I had hoped I would be able to punch out the doors and windows, but that seems like an impossible task due to the properties of the porcelain. The building you see is actually 2 pieces, as it cracked down the middle. That will glue together fine, but it gives you an idea of how finicky it is to precisely smash porcelain. I may have a go with a dremel and a grinding wheel (outside where my mess will not get me in trouble, most likely) or I might just leave it as is. The inside will need some decorating - a second floor, wooden planks and rubble, etc. I might try and add the inside of the chimney using milliput or something similar. I suppose the outside of the house will be painted minimally - likely just some brown and black washes and some drybrushing, then I will have to base it. The building cost me $5, so I think for the investment it is looking quite swell so far!
Any suggestions?
